Two Mikos
by K Nighthawk
Summary: A collection of short vignettes concerning Kikyo and Kagome and their changing views concerning each other, emotions, death, life. Prequel to 'One Wish', though knowledge of it isn't necessary. Told from Kagome's POV. Not for Kikyo haters.
1. Healing Hands

For Kirsten Batey, who told me that this was a story all in itself, and Sharibet, whose continuous reviews remind me that someone is waiting for the next chapter. 

Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

**Healing Hands**

Kikyo hated her, she knew.  A clay pot made entirely of hate, living off stolen souls, hers included.  But it was the small part of her soul that Kikyo held that made it possible for everything Kikyo did.  You could almost blame her for Kikyo's actions.  If she were a brave person, she would take back the missing part of her soul.  But Kikyo had meant so much to Inu-Yasha.

Inu-Yasha.

She let Kikyo live with her stolen souls for the promise of death.  Death and revenge.  How very Kikyo-like of her.

"Are you done moping now, copy?"

Though she'd like to think she wasn't as bitter.

"I'm not moping.  Just thinking."

"I have already taught you meditation."

"Hai, you have.  Arigatou, Kikyo-sensei."

Had she always sounded so sad?  She didn't think so.

"Why do you persist in using a bow as a weapon?"

Why did she use a bow?  Kaede-baasan had given her one, told her that if her former incarnation was good with a bow, she should be too.  Inu-Yasha didn't like her getting into his fights, so the bow let her stay back and still be helpful.

Who was she kidding?  She was always losing her bow, breaking her bow, completely missing the target.  It was the bow that had broken the Shikon no Tama in the first place.

"I don't know."

"I will not go into a fight with only a bow.  What happens when the demon is right before you with his claws?  A bow will not save you, will not protect you.  You must learn to protect yourself."

_{"Stay out of the way and let me protect you!"}_

Letting him protect her had taught her nothing.  Had gotten all of her friends killed because she was too weak to protect herself, much less them.

Lions drop their young down a cliff.  Saving someone from getting hurt meant they never learned the lessons pain taught them.

"Hai, I must."

"Do you remember the power you felt in meditation?  The deep pool of magic and energy that makes up your very essence?"

She had picked up on meditation quickly.  It was something she seemed to have taught herself during her long baths.  But never once during bath time had she thought to concentrate on her magic instead of her thoughts.

But she hadn't been surprised to find the pink wellspring of purification energy once she had been told what to look for.  Deeper down inside the pool of magic was energy magenta in color, that wasn't entirely miko magic.  She wasn't sure what it was, nor had Kikyo ever mentioned it.  So Kagome left it alone.

"Hai."

"Instead of concentrating on using a bow to release your energy, concentrate on your hands."

Kagome tried.  She did not pick it up as easily as she had meditation.  But then, everything she knew about her powers was self-taught.

Hours later, Kikyo's impassive face showed none of the irritation Kagome could feel coming off of her.  Briefly she wondered if Kikyo could feel her emotions.  But there was nothing in her to feel.  Nothing but endless pain and guilt.

Kikyo stopped in her digging for roots to look at Kagome.  Wiping her knife off on her hakama, she knelt down beside Kagome and picked up her hand.

"Since this does not seem to work, I shall have to try something else."  With no other word of warning, Kikyo slashed the knife across Kagome's open palm.  "Your magic is in your blood.  Since you obviously cannot concentrate on it within your body, perhaps you will pay more attention to it leaving your body."  Kikyo stood and returned to her previous task of finding herbs.

Kagome didn't feel angry at Kikyo's actions.  Any suffering she felt was rightly deserved.  She had gotten all of her friends killed.  She stared as the blood ran freely from the cut, down her hand, to drip to the ground.

'Your magic is in your blood.'  She found the wellspring.  She had never truly looked at it, but now she could see tiny rivulets of liquid power running from it out to elsewhere.

Silently, she prodded at the wellspring.  Nothing happened.  She turned her attention to the largest trickle of magic leaving it and prodded again.  The deadening pain in her bleeding hand flared.  Kagome was almost happy that she had figured something out.

Instead of poking at it again, she concentrated on more of a soft stroke, pushing the magic back into the pool, stopping its outward flow.  The pain in her hand faded, and, as she continued the movement, disappeared entirely.

She looked at her hand.  There was a trail of blood running down it, but the cut had disappeared without even a scar.  She was a bit disappointed.  The scar would have been a reminder that she had been foolish in ever thinking someone would always look out for her.

  She had healed herself without anyone's help.  Perhaps later she would learn to keep from receiving the pain in the first place.  Then she would no longer get into so much trouble, and could truly be of help in fights.

Kneeling at her work, Kikyo's impassive face smiled a faint, soft smile at the faint use of magic she felt coming from her depressed student.  The healing had begun.


	2. Release

Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

Release 

She didn't hate Kikyo.  Even before she had forgotten to feel, she hadn't hated the undead woman.  It wasn't her fault a witch had halfway resurrected her for the power she held, not realizing Kikyo's soul now belonged to another.

"Have you ever had training in weaponry beyond that of a bow, copy?"

Did kitchen knives count?

"No."

Kikyo's cool face showed nothing of her thoughts.

"A staff works best, since it is not commonly seen as a weapon, merely as a tool for walking."

Miroku-sama used a staff.  She could still hear him bopping Inu-Yasha on the head with it, and lecturing him on the ways of treating women.  She doubted either knew she could hear them.  She could faintly hear the sounds of the rings on Miroku's staff clinking together.

Oh, Miroku.  We were too late to save you.  Did you ever manage to talk a woman into bearing your child before we met you?  I know we always kept you from it afterwards.

Slap.  'Hentai!'

How she missed them.  Why hadn't she seen the pain in Miroku's eyes as he looked at his cursed hand?  He had known, even if they didn't, that he had run out of time.

"I won't let you be killed by human bandits just because you know nothing about defending yourself."

Defending herself.  Yes, she got captured often, didn't she?  No one had bothered her since Inu-Yasha's death, except for Kikyo.  Maybe it was the priestess robes the undead miko made her wear.  People were less likely to bother a priestess than a girl running around in a short skirt.

'That is a very immodest kimono, Kagome-sama.  Do all the girls in your time wear such?  Could you bring one back for Sango-san?  And convince her to wear it?'  Smack. 'Hentai houshi!'  Soft giggles from Kagome.

"I appreciate the concern, Kikyo-sensei."

"I will be the one who kills you, copy.  You will not get killed before then."

Had Kikyo's need to drag Inu-Yasha to hell transferred to her?  Perhaps it was that hate which kept Kikyo alive.  And since Inu-Yasha was dead, she had to hate whoever had killed him.

She had killed him.  No, it hadn't been her hands that had stopped the beating of the hanyou's heart, but she had been too weak to stop it.  Had she even understood half of what she knew now of her powers, she could have saved him.  Instead, he had died in her arms.

"It does not matter to me.  Dead is dead."

Perhaps not for Kikyo, but for Kagome, it would be.  She never wanted to return to this world, once she had fulfilled her promise to Kikyo to help slay Naraku, the source of all their pains.

"Death, copy, can be cheated."

What were they talking about?  She thought backwards.  Death, bandits, defense, staff.  Her eyes moved to the two staffs resting beside Kikyo.  Was that Miroku's?  She choked back on a sob.  Kikyo noticed the sound and her eyes followed Kagome's to the staff.

Kikyo's face did not change as she ignored the girl's sorrowful face.  "Ready to begin training, copy?"  She tossed the staff to Kagome.  She instinctively grabbed it.  The rings clinked against each other mournfully.

She held it out from her as if it were a poisonous snake.  It was another sign of her failure.  They hadn't killed Naraku before his curse swallowed Miroku.

Memories of Miroku continued to flash through her mind.  Pain shot through her head, and it took a moment to realize it wasn't just the pain of recalling Miroku and his untimely death.

Had Kikyo just bopped her on the head with the other staff?

"Pay attention to me when I'm speaking, copy."  Kikyo's voice betrayed no emotions.

Miroku, bopping Inu-Yasha on the head as she raced off crying after he had yet again unfavorably compared her to Kikyo.

She hurled the staff from her and sank to her knees, sobbing.

Kikyo found the thrown weapon and returned to the rock she had been sitting on.  She waited patiently for the broken girl to stop crying.  It wasn't enough to remember only the pain.  You had to remember the good as well.  The crying was the child's acceptance that the monk was gone, released from his curse.

It was unfortunate that the outlet was tears, but the crying girl in front of her was a far cry from the unemotional girl who had promised to help defeat Naraku in exchange for death.  Better sadness than emptiness.

Throughout the whole thing, Kikyo's face had remained as impassive as always.


	3. Absent

AN:  I plan on having one of these little vignettes for each of the Inu-Yasha characters.  Kikyo in these stories will be very much Machiavellian- the ends justify the means.  (You might have noticed this with the knife incident in Healing Hands.)  When alive, she might have been the famous kind-hearted tama no miko who slew demons without a thought, but undead, she gets more complicated.  You'll notice in the series she often seems to the inu-gumi to be working for Naraku, but it's obvious that she hates the man just as much as the others do.  She merely feels that they are hopeless when it comes to fighting him and works alone.

Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

**Absent**

Kagome watched with disinterest as Kikyo shot the oni with an arrow glowing pink with purification energy.  She wondered how an undead miko could even use powers of purification, then decided it didn't matter.

Did anything matter?  They were all gone, all gone and left her behind and she let them.  She wasn't brave enough to follow them into the afterlife, and had had to make a bargain with a former incarnation to do it for her.  Who insisted on making her remember all the happiness she had felt with her former companions.  She didn't want to remember being happy.

Kikyo's actions confused her.  She understood that Kikyo wanted to be the one to kill her, she said it often enough, but she wanted Kagome's help in defeating Naraku.  Which she didn't seem to be in a rush to do, and Kagome didn't think it was because her training was incomplete.  Just because you weren't a master didn't mean you couldn't fight and win.  And if a trained Kikyo and untrained Kagome scared Naraku enough to go into hiding, why wouldn't Kikyo search out where Naraku was with Kagome partially trained?

It was as if the undead miko was waiting for something.

"Copy, do plan on putting down roots in that spot?"

She could at least stop calling her copy.

"Iie.  I was just thinking."

"You seem to do that a lot.  Give me your bow."

Kagome handed it over, wondering why, but said nothing.

As if sensing the unspoken question, Kikyo said, "You are already a master of the bow.  It is your staff skills that need help."

Kagome had refused to use the monk's staff.  Kikyo had switched staffs with her, but to Kagome, it wasn't enough.  Each step Kikyo took with it, the rings chimed and memories would flow unbidden of the staff's previous owner.

'I'm sorry.'

But she refused to complain to Kikyo that the staff's presence disturbed her and was left alone with her thoughts.

"Did you hear a single word I said, copy?"

Kikyo had been speaking?  Her spacing out was getting worse if she couldn't even hear the woman speaking anymore.

She shook her head.

"I said we will spar.  I want to see if you can combine magic with something besides the bow."

Kagome held back a sigh.  Sparring was more dangerous than any of the oni who had attacked them for the shards Kagome still carried.

Kikyo swung for her elbow and Kagome blocked the swing with the staff she held.  The spar began in earnest.  Shoulder.  A feint.  Pain in her knee where the real attack had been aimed.

She grimaced and threw herself further into the fight.  She would not be weak.

What seemed like hours later, Kagome knelt on the ground, panting heavily.  Bruises were beginning to form all over her body from the blows Kikyo's- Miroku's- staff had dealt her.  Kikyo refused to pull her punches, saying Kagome needed to learn to handle the pain.  She refused to allow Kagome to continue practicing her miko powers to heal the wounds.

Kagome thought Kikyo just wanted to draw out the torture.  Even an idiot could tell the undead woman hated her.

Kagome didn't even care about killing Naraku anymore.  She just wanted it all to end.  For her friends to stop being dead, for Kikyo to stop her endless lessons and torture, for the jewel to stop existing, for her to stop existing...

They had abandoned her.  All of them.  Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Inu-Yasha.  Did they ever care about her?  They left without ever considering how she'd feel about them leaving.

Was this feeling why Inu-Yasha always tried to keep her on this side of the well?  This feeling of utter abandonment?  She always promised to return.  There were too many things here in Sengoku Jidai that called to her.  She could never leave it entirely.

But he had left her.  For good.  Forever.

She started brushing dirt off herself.  Kikyo looked like she hadn't even broken a sweat.

Could the undead sweat?

Everyone said Kagome was Kikyo's reincarnation.  The only similarity Kagome saw was their miko abilities.  Ninety percent of Japan was populated by people with black hair.  And Kikyo's looked brown when the light hit it, not blue.  And Kikyo had brown eyes, not gray-blue.

And Kikyo had Inu-Yasha's love. Even dying in her arms, the hanyou had not said he loved her.

She wanted to hate Kikyo for having had Inu-Yasha's love, but couldn't.  The woman, were she not so cruel, was pitiable.  Sacrificing herself for a jewel that had caused all her troubles, only to be returned to a horrible state of existence balanced between death and life, cursed to have neither.  And only the small sliver of Kagome's soul that resided in the woman allowed her the peace she knew.

Maybe Kagome's friends had abandoned her, she thought as she looked at the passive woman, but at least she had had friends to begin with.  Who had Kikyo had beyond Inu-Yasha?  Perhaps Kaede, but no one else.

She had only the jewel, and it destroyed her.

Kagome had had the jewel, but instead of destroying her, it had destroyed her friends.

Was she any better off than the emotionless clay doll before her?  At least Kikyo hadn't dragged anyone else into this mess.

Kagome deserved to be abandoned by her friends.  She was the one who had caused all their troubles to begin with.

'I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry.'

Kikyo frowned at the flicker of emotions crossing Kagome's partially opened face.  The healing was not going as fast as she would have liked, nor did the younger miko seem to understand that she was responsible for no one's choices but her own.

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself and go wash up properly, copy.  I can smell you from here."

Kagome looked up from the hakama she had been dusting off to stare wearily at Kikyo.  Kikyo half-expected the girl to blow up at her like she had done in the past, but recalled the muteness of spirit the girl had gained with each passing of her companions.

Rather than suffer the pains of betrayal and loss, Kikyo had spurned all emotional contact with people to devote herself solely to her station.  Looking at the still mostly-broken girl in front of her, she decided the loneliness she sometimes felt was worth missing the few happy moments others could bring you.  You could not miss what you did not know.


	4. Differing Views

AN:  I know it's hard to tell how much time has passed in this stories, but it's not very important beyond the fact that time _is_ passing.  All I can say is that they run linearly (and any that don't will have advance warning, but this shouldn't happen).

Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

**Differing Views**

"Kill it."

Kagome stared at the injured animal.  Kill it?  Killing innocent things was wrong.

"Kill it, copy.  It's going to die whether you kill it or it bleeds to death."

Bleeding to death was painful.  Kagome had done lots of bleeding, so she knew this.  But she couldn't just kill an innocent animal.  It had done nothing wrong.

It growled up at the two of them, wanting them to step further back from it.

It didn't want to die anymore than Kagome wanted to kill it.

"A miko's duty is to have compassion for others.  Realize it is in pain, copy, and put it out of its misery."

It was a fox.  It reminded her of Shippo.  Sweet, mischievous, chocolate-loving Shippo, who called her kaasan when no one else was listening.  The jewel she had broken had led the boy to her when he found a shard and his father was killed for it.

Yet another innocent's life she had ruined.

She refused to kill the fox in front of her.  Let it bleed to death, but it would not be dead by her hands.

"Sometimes, copy, death is the only thing you can give someone."

She wished Kikyo would shut up.  Didn't Kikyo understand that killing outside of self-defense was wrong?

Kagome sat down beside the wounded creature and hesitantly reached a hand out to it.  It was too weak to do anything but growl at her.  She scratched one of its ears affectionately, recalling Shippo's purrs when she played with his tail.

"What does that do, copy?"

"It soothes it," she replied softly.  "I will not kill him.  No more lives will be lost on my account."

"You are a fool.  You will cause death whether you like it or not."

Kagome made no reply.  Yes, she was the reason behind many of the strange deaths these past three years in Sengoku Jidai, but she was watching out for it now.

The fox whimpered in pain, and Kagome took her hand away.  Kikyo was right about one thing, it was dying.  Its red fur was brown with all the dried blood clinging to it, and its yellow-green eyes were glazed over with pain.

"Put it out of its misery, copy."

Death would end the pain.

How long ago had she thought that upon her agreement to Kikyo's bargain?  Five months?  Six?  Did it still hold true?

Did even death end pain?  She hurt beyond anything words could explain because of the deaths of others.  Wouldn't her death just being pain upon someone else?

But was there anyone left who would care?

She untucked her gi, wet part of it with her tongue, and began washing the fox off.  At least it could die with some dignity.

But was dying of wounds received from falling down a cliff really all that dignified?  There was no dignity in death, she realized.  Death didn't care.  It took everything you had.

"That's useless, copy."

Kagome couldn't understand how Kikyo could just stand there and watch the poor thing die.  Had she no pity?  Compassion?  Sympathy?

Kikyo was undead.  She couldn't feel anything.  That just meant Kagome had to do it for her.

One blunt end of Kikyo's staff came down hard upon the small creature's head, crushing it.

Kagome looked up, eyes watering.  "What did you do that for?" she yelled.

"It was suffering, copy.  Now it suffers no more.  Stop sniveling and get up."

"You killed it!"

"It was already dead, its heart just hadn't stopped beating yet."

"It was still alive!  It could have gotten better!"

"Take a good look at it, copy.  There was no way that thing would have survived, even if it did heal enough to move around.  The other predators of this forest would have eaten it."

"But it was still alive!"

"Yes, and now it is dead.  Get up."

Kagome looked ready to argue, but all the fire that had appeared with the death of the tiny fox disappeared as quickly as it arrived.  She sniffled and stood to her feet.

"Life causes death, death causes life.  When it was alive, it killed others so that it could live.  Now that it is dead, it will help feed others."

Kagome said nothing, thinking on the tiny red body that so reminded her of another small body.

Shippo.

How similar the two's deaths.  The tiny fox, killed under Kikyo's staff as it slowly bled to death.  Young Shippo, rescued from the jaws of the dragon youkai to be curled protectively to Kagome's chest as he, too, bled to death.  And then the dragon's great wing knocking Kagome over the cliff.  She had woken from the hard impact to discover she had landed on the child and broken his neck.  Combined with the already fatal wounds he had, the kitsune had died before she had woken.

She broke down crying as they continued walking down the path.  "You didn't have to kill it that way!"

Kikyo almost looked annoyed at her outburst.  Almost.

"If you wanted it dead some other way, copy, you should have killed it."

"If you're this wise and all-powerful miko, you should have been able to heal it!"

Kikyo briefly considered pointing out that she was not a miracle worker, and even if she had healed some of its wounds, the smell of the injured fox's blood would have drawn others to come and kill it.  It would have been a waste of energy.  Instead,

"Why did you not do it yourself, copy?"

Kagome froze.  She hadn't thought about her ability to heal.  Kikyo had taught her how to call upon it.  But she had concentrated fully upon Kikyo's words of death, instead of thinking about how she could possibly save it.

"Why didn't you tell me to heal it instead of kill it?"

Kikyo ignored the question.

Kagome got a little annoyed.  "Please answer the question, Kikyo-sensei."

Kikyo was still silent.

Was Kikyo purposefully trying to piss her off?  "Answer me!"

Kikyo turned cold eyes upon her.  Kagome flinched back.

"Healing it would only have delayed the inevitable, continued its suffering.  You do not waste your energy upon things you cannot fix.  Remember that, copy."

And Kikyo continued to walk away from the still girl from the future.


	5. Crossroads

Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

**Crossroads**

"Your defense is showing good signs of improvement, copy. Though what you have learned is only for when you are attacked physically. Do you have any knowledge of how magic can be used against someone's mind?"

How odd. Kikyo had complimented her. And from the daily sparring sessions the undead miko had put her through, Kagome knew that her former incarnation was not one for being nice.

"No I have not, Kikyo-sensei."

"Look at me."

She looked up into the other miko's dark eyes.

Suddenly, she was no longer looking at Kikyo, but watching Sango fight Kagura and Kohaku. She couldn't hear anything, but could see Sango speaking, pleading with the young boy to fight Naraku's influence, to regain control of himself.

Kagome tried to speak, to call out to the woman she knew was dead, to prevent what she knew would happen next.

Kohaku's eyes were lifeless as he attacked Sango. Sango was blocking the attacks, but made no move to fight back, instead concentrating her attacks on the wind-user watching the two battle.

Kagome watched with horror as Kohaku's weapon embedded itself into Sango's back. Kagura's form blurred as she pulled her fan back to release her winds upon the two. And instead of Kagura standing there, it was herself, pulling back a glowing pink arrow to release into Sango's chest, open as it was from Kohaku's attack.

"NO!" she yelled. "That's not what happened!"

The arrow flew truly, and Sango fell backwards into Kohaku's arms, his eyes no longer lifeless, and looking horrified up at Kagome. Another glowing arrow shot forth, and the eyes became dull again, and he fell backwards too.

"I didn't kill them!" she shouted at her image. "I wasn't there! I didn't even find her until it was too late! I didn't kill her!"

The vision disappeared.

"Of course you didn't kill her, copy. Kagura is responsible for that. Why would you think you killed her?"

Kagome rubbed her eyes with her hands, and stared at Kikyo. A waking dream?

"Do you really think so highly of yourself that you think everything happens because of you, copy? You really are a fool."

"I don't think highly of myself, Kikyo-sensei. I'm a terrible person," she whispered. "She died in my arms, and I did nothing to help her. It's my fault she died."

"You just said you didn't kill her."

It was just like with the little fox they had found. She had sat beside it, comforting its last moments, and Kikyo had killed it. But Kagome could have used her magic to heal the broken animal, so it was her fault it had died.

"You are being selfish. You think you deserve responsibility for everything that happens. A truly humble person knows when to let others take responsibility. Your taijiya friend was the master of her own fate, and you lessen her death with your self-pity, self-recrimination, and selfishness. She chose her death, and if you continue to blame yourself for it, I will make you join her."

Kagome watched the other miko walk away, the chimes on her staff clinking their usual mournful melody.

Selfish, to blame herself for Sango's death? But she was the one who kept giving Sango hope that Kohaku could be saved, and Kohaku killed her. Kohaku and Kagura. And Kagura wouldn't even exist were it not for the fact that Kagome had allowed Naraku to gain hold of her jewel shards.

But if she continued along that line, wasn't everything the Shikon no Tama's fault? But it was Kagome's responsibility to guard it. That still meant it was her fault everything had happened.

Was she really being selfish for wanting to take the blame? Why couldn't she just say everything was the jewel's fault and leave it at that?

The jewel was her responsibility. The jewel cursed everyone it came in contact with.

It was Kagura who had landed the final blow upon Sango. She was not responsible for Kagura's actions. Kagura killed Sango. She didn't kill her friend. She hadn't abandoned her to fight her brother by herself. Sango had ordered them not to come, that Kohaku was her responsibility and hers alone. And Kohaku had helped to kill her.

Would her charge kill her as well? Or did she accept others help in destroying it, in chasing down her responsibility? Sango had gone after Kohaku alone. She had made her decision, and Kagome realized she was belittling the slayer for blaming herself for Sango's choice.

But did she chase down the Shikon no Tama alone, or did she get help?

She had had help. But they had been overcome- Miroku to his kazaana, Shippo to the dragon, Sango to her brother, and Inu-Yasha to yet another puppet. There was only Kikyo.

Kikyo had come to her for help in destroying Naraku. If the isolated and aloof miko could come down off her high horse long enough to admit she needed help, Kagome could do the same with her guilt long enough to see she was being a little too hard on herself.

Kikyo had been waiting for something through all their practices, sparrings, teachings. Had it been this realization, that the world did not rest on her shoulders, even if she did bear some responsibility?

She stood back up. Now. The wait was over.


	6. Remember

Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

**Remember**

"Why are we still waiting around? I've already learned how to fight with staff and bow and how to use my powers, so why aren't we out there hunting Naraku down?"

Kikyo didn't raise her eyes from the pot of herbs she was boiling. "Simple knowledge of combat will not help us defeat Naraku, copy. You still cannot fully control your powers, nor do you know how to use them beyond killing things and healing things. Magic is much more subtle than that."

"Well then teach me!" Kagome whined petulantly.

"One does not rush these things, copy. I have already given you your lesson for the day and I will not force your mind into learning more things than it is able to handle."

Kagome flounced off and say down on a rock further from the fire. It seemed that her reincarnation was pouting, Kikyo thought with a small smile as she looked on the younger girl. She had come so far from the silent emotionless doll she had been these past months- though it was still a regression from what she had first been.

But even her childish manner of pouting and shouting for things to be done **_now_** was better than that. And with the knowledge she had gained from her withdrawal into herself, her reincarnation would no doubt grow to be an emotionally mature young woman. She just had to remember she was seventeen, not seven.

"Pouting is beneath even you, copy. Act your age."

Had Kagome been who she was when this first started, she would have giggled at the sound of Kikyo scolding her as if she were her mother. But she had forgotten her emotions over the past few months, and Kikyo was slightly annoyed that it was impatience that Kagome had relearned first. The better emotions would take longer to recover, but serious progress had been made.

"I'm not pouting."

"Oh yes, because your face always looks like that, copy."

At that Kagome first looked startled, then gave Kikyo a faint smile to show she had seen the humor in Kikyo's words.

Both women stared at each other awkwardly after that. Kagome gave Kikyo an apologetic half-smile and stood up, to return to her place across the fire from the older miko to add herbs to the boiling pot.

Perhaps, Kikyo mused as she stirred the gooey mixture, it was not only her reincarnation that was remembering what emotions were.


	7. Lessons

Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

**Lessons**

Kagome stared disconsolately into the fire. It had been almost a week since her irrational demand to Kikyo that they went after Naraku- and excluding that, teach her to control her powers more.

God she could be stupid sometimes.

She looked over at Kikyo. The undead woman still had that odd smile on her face.

Make that she could be stupid all the time. Kikyo was laughing at her, in her odd fashion. Just because Kagome had finally come around to the long-drawn-out lesson that life was too short to spend finding more faults in herself than were actually there, the undead woman thought it was funny the way Kagome wanted to drop what they were doing immediately.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. As if Kikyo didn't think poorly enough of her as it was- broke the jewel Kikyo had guarded to her death, couldn't use her miko powers properly, was nice to youkai, had worse aim than a toddler, got Inu-Yasha and all of her friends killed for something that only brought misery.

She shook her head. 'Not my fault. We all make our own decisions, Kikyo said.'

When had Kikyo stopped hating her? She thought over their interaction, both before and after their deal to kill Naraku.

_Kikyo looking confusedly over at her as the two staggered away from the cavern entrance. "Why are you helping me? Why don't you hate me?"_

Kikyo had sounded that Kagome would help her, even though Kikyo had helped her- sort of.

Maybe Kikyo was just as confused about Kagome as she was about Kikyo. Maybe that coldness that Kagome always heard in Kikyo's voice was only there because she had forgotten any other way to speak. Only her hatred for Inu-Yasha kept her alive, she had often said. But without an Inu-Yasha to hate, Kikyo was at a loss of what to do, to feel.

Kikyo had been teaching her in her own fashion that death was essential to life. Maybe, just maybe, Kagome mused, she could teach the undead woman that life was essential to death.


End file.
